In 1987, a wildfire that originated in China's Daxing'anling Mountains devastated the country's northeastern Heilongjiang province. Though forest fires were fairly common in the area, this one was far more destructive than any of its predecessors — blazing for nearly a month and covering 2.4 million acres. The fire, which started May 6, killed over 200 people and left more than 50,000 homeless before it was finally extinguished on June 2.